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Lieutenant Andrew Agnew

Andrew Agnew was born in 1766, the only surviving son of Mary Baillie (d. 1770) and her husband Sir Stair Agnew of Lochnaw (1732-1809), 6th Bart. At the age of twenty-one, in keeping with the family's venerable military traditions, Agnew took up a commission as a lieutenant in the 12th (East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot (which had recently gained notoriety during the Siege of Gibraltar). From April 1788 until March 1790, he was with the regiment in the Channel Islands and thereafter in the south of England. A fellow soldier later reported, "I never knew any officer more beloved. He was a very handsome man". At the beginning of 1791 the regiment sailed for Ireland, arriving in Cork on January 5, 1791, and traveling on to Kingsdale. There, Agnew met the Hon. Martha de Courcy, eldest daughter of John, 26th Lord Kingsdale, premier baron of Ireland. He wrote his father of his intention of marrying her on November 1, 1791. Sir Stair Agnew advised a postponement until family debts had been cleared, but the couple eloped to the Parish Church of St. Multose where they were married on May 21, 1792. Agnew determined to leave the army and return home to Scotland, which his forgiving father (in a letter of June 3) urged him to do as soon as possible. In July the newlyweds arrived at Lochnaw, but on September 1, 1792 Andrew Agnew died, reportedly as a result of "over-exertion in hunting." On March 21, 1793 his widow gave birth to their son, Andrew, who on June 28, 1809 succeeded his grandfather as seventh baronet.